by Jethro Soutar
LISBON, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Portugal offered understanding and sympathy to the victims of Greece's wildfires on Tuesday and pledged support in helping to combat the fires.
Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke to his Greek counterpart, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, via telephone.
"I expressed my condolences to the family's of the dead and wished a speedy recovery to all those injured," said Rebelo de Sousa, via the President of the Republic's website.
Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa also contacted his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras.
"I would like to send a message of solidarity to the Greek people, who are suffering from the tragedy and scourge of wildfires," Costa announced via Twitter. "Portugal is available, within the European framework and bilaterally, to offer its support to Greece."
The Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, later announced that Portugal was sending 50 members of its Firefighting Special Forces (FEB) to Greece.
The Greek authorities has confirmed that at least 74 people have been killed in the huge forest fires near capital Athens, and 187 others injured, including 23 children.
Portugal has a better understanding of the Greek tragedy than most. In June 2017, 64 people died in wildfires in the town of Pedrogao Grande in the center of Portugal. Another outbreak of fires in October resulted in 50 deaths.
The Pedrogao Grande Fire Victims Association (AVIPG) expressed its deep sympathy for the victims of the Greek fires through Greece's Ambassador to Portugal.
Rui Rio, leader of the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), added his support. "We must show our solidarity to Greece as well as to Sweden, which is experiencing precisely the same problems, in the same way that we would like others to show solidarity to us," Rio told the Portuguese Lusa News Agency.
But he also sounded a note of caution, saying Portugal could at any moment suffer a "serious wildfire and we must have the means here to deal with it."
He was referring to the fact that Portugal had sent two fire fighting amphibious aircraft to Sweden, which is also experiencing a spate of forest fires.
But Jose Artur Neves, the secretary of state for civil protection, said the risks had been properly calculated. "The weather forecast we have until the 31st has allowed us to offer this support to Sweden, but we are constantly evaluating the situation and will quickly call for their return if needed," he told journalist at the Vila Real airbase, where the planes departed from on Tuesday morning.
Elsewhere, parallels were drawn between the Greek fires and Portugal's fate last year. "There are a lot of similarities because Greece's vulnerabilities are similar to other countries in southern Europe," said Duarte Caldeira, former president of the League of Portuguese Fireman.
"It's not humanly possible to control such fires," he added, emphasizing the need to educate the public on what to do in the case of a wildfire emergency.
He was addressing similarities between what happened in Greece and what happened in Pedrogao Grande last year, when panicked people died trying to flee the flames.
Portugal has not suffered from a major wildfire so far in 2018, in part as a consequence of an unusually cool summer.
